Getting a little Geo bloom now. As with a previous cheese, the side rind is harder and more impervious compared to the flat top and bottom. Looking decent so far. Washing every other day and airing it out a bit.

Here you go, Tammy. It's used to protect the rind and help develop the inner paste. Does a great job for my semi-hard and hard cheese styles.

It has the B. linens as well as a second linens: Arthrobacter nicotianae. Then there's the Geo along with a yeast to help condition the rind for the others to grow. All in one nice little package. Brings out the "ta-da!" every time.

Today marks four weeks since I started this cheese. It was wash day for this wheel. As per usual with this style (for me), the schmier is light. Temperature has hovered around 53F(12C) with about 88%RH. It stays in its minicave and gets serviced about every 2nd to 3rd day. The container of PLA & 3% brine I initially made is about exhausted. I will probably just prepare a fresh batch of 3% brine only to continue the wash regimen. I would expect the PLA to remain viable.

My Swiss and Gruyere both have that kind of light white schmier. I washed it with a water wine salt solution that Al had recommended in some of his posts. Those are the only cheeses I have ever washed so I was happy to get the thin schmier!

I might get some of that PLA stuff, for next time I make a cheese that I want to wash.

Changing subject, I know that you vacuum seal your cheeses. Do you seal the ones with the nice schmier on them also, after the schmier dries of course? I have done really good at maintaining the moisture for my washed rind cheeses by putting them in a box with a wet sponge in there, and kind of propping the lid over them, not really closing it, I want air to come in and out. Now that the cheeses have a dry rind on them, because I am through with the washing, I was thinking about vacuum sealing them. They have that dried white schmier now. They look great!

I'd like to get the plastic containers out of the cave so I have more room!

I think that my problem with this in the past has been doing it too soon. The few cheeses that I sealed came out with a mildewy smell to them, or I had to open them and dump out the liquid half way through and dry them off.

My Swiss is 3 months old, so I think I can be safe in sealing it, and my Gruyere is 2 months old, so I think I can seal it too. How soon do you seal yours?

Changing subject, I know that you vacuum seal your cheeses. Do you seal the ones with the nice schmier on them also, after the schmier dries of course? I have done really good at maintaining the moisture for my washed rind cheeses by putting them in a box with a wet sponge in there, and kind of propping the lid over them, not really closing it, I want air to come in and out. Now that the cheeses have a dry rind on them, because I am through with the washing, I was thinking about vacuum sealing them. They have that dried white schmier now. They look great!

I'd like to get the plastic containers out of the cave so I have more room!

I think that my problem with this in the past has been doing it too soon. The few cheeses that I sealed came out with a mildewy smell to them, or I had to open them and dump out the liquid half way through and dry them off.

My Swiss is 3 months old, so I think I can be safe in sealing it, and my Gruyere is 2 months old, so I think I can seal it too. How soon do you seal yours?

An example is my Beaufort #4 which I started on June 24, 2012 and cream-coated on September 3, 2012. So it basically had the whole months of July and August to cure the rind. I decided to cream-coat it but I could certainly have vacuum-sealed it to preserve moisture and protect the cheese. That's what I have been about when a cheese gets close to being "ready". Get those minicaves out of the cave and free up some shelf space! The sealed cheese still goes back into the cave to properly ripen at the cave temperature.

Thanks, Kathrin. Just trying to stay busy while it pours rain outside. This is the Evergreen State after all. Everything's greening up. That's another reason...I imagine all this sweet pasture-fed milk available now, and I don't want to miss an opportunity.

One more thing...now is a good time to make hard and semi-hard cheeses for the holidays. Six months affinage should be just about right.

I've been looking at this wheel for quite some time trying to decide the best time to open it. It has been my experience that 4-6 months gives a pretty nice cheese in this style. This one is just shy of 7 months.

There were a couple of suspicious "blooms" inside the vacuum bag but outside the cream coating. Checking the cheese inside didn't reveal anything dangerous.

Before I cut through the hardened cream coating, I wiped the wheel down with alcohol to reduce the incidence of any infection that might be introduced by cutting through the coating. Not a great idea, because the polymer coating seemed to dissolve slightly with the alcohol.

The coating slid when I cut into it because of the residual underlying linens/geo rind which was a little pasty. The first taste of the cheese was sweet accompanied by a complex, somewhat barnyardy essence. A nuttiness became apparent. There's that accustomed Beaufort texture...flexible and sliceable. The salt level was good but I wonder if just a little bit more would deepen the character of this cheese.

A true Beaufort isn't washed curd, but I like it because it sweetens the cheese.

Overall, I am pleased. Nice little cheese. Sectioned and ready for holiday gift-giving, this is the first cheese of what will be a small cheese selection basket.

Very nice result, and well worth a cheese. I've still got a small piece of my first beaufort in the cave. Must make another soon I think. Work schedule not conducive at the moment to cheese making, but still able to find inspiration.

- Jeff

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The wise do not always start out on the right path, but they do know when to change course.

I am amazed I really think I can smell and taste this, these are great pix A cheese for both (I can only give you one )I can only stand in awe of the expertise you and so many others on this forum have shown in your abilities for artisan, home grown cheese cheese on my friends, cheese on.